IRS 2011 Q2: Religious mags lose 32 pc readers over 2 yrs

The Religious magazine genre has seen a 32 per cent fall (-3.35 lakh) in average issue readership over a two-year period. The year-on-year decline in readership stands at 14% (-1.21 lakh). One possible reason for the decline in readership could be the availability of such content on the electronic medium via TV channels such as Aastha, Sanskarand others. The audio-visual content on TV is very engaging for the viewers.

Only one publication, Jyothisharatnam saw growth over two years in AIR, adding 14,000 readers, a rise of 10%.With the highest readership figure in this genre, Naba Kallol has seena 6% rise from last year (+11,000) while registering a 12% drop in AIR from 2009 R1 (-27,000). Osho World witnessed the greatest fall in AIR last year(-62,000/39% drop). From 2009 R1, it has lost 25,000 readers, a 21% decline.

Kumudam Bhakti Special has lost the largest number of readers in the last two years
(-69,000/30% drop) followed by Sakthi Vikatan (-59,000/34% drop). The fall in AIR for Kumudam Bhakti Special from 2010 Q2 is 9% while it is 3% for Sakthi Vikatan.

Sadhna Path stood at an AIR of 70,000 and Devi at 99,000 as per 2009 R1 results. According to IRS 2010 Q2, Sadhna Path had an AIR of 44,000 and Devi, 51,000.